Milosevic's fate sealed by Serb extradition deal

The decision meets one of the West's main conditions for giving Belgrade billions of pounds of aid. The decree provides a legal basis for co-operation with The Hague War Crimes Tribunal, including the extradition of Yugoslav citizens, a move banned by current law.

A government official said that extraditions would begin in days, but Milosevic, who is in jail, might not necessarily be first on the list, although he was likely to go within weeks. "Someone will be extradited very soon, but that doesn't mean it will be Milosevic," he said. "Look for another big fish." A mood of tense expectancy has settled on Belgrade.

Carla del Ponte, The Hague's chief prosecutor, has said that between 15 and 16 alleged war criminals are wanted in Serbia. How many are named in sealed indictments, however, is unclear. The Hague remains circumspect about those on its list, naming only a few of the most prominent to prevent the others evading justice.

Yugoslavia's democratic reformers, led by President Vojislav Kostunica, agreed this week that they must soon begin transferring wanted war criminals to The Hague to show the world that Belgrade intends to comply fully with the UN court.

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A key consideration for the reformers in Belgrade is to secure Western aid at a donors' conference scheduled for next Friday. Yugoslavia's economy is desperate for cash, because private investment has not generated the expected tax revenue. Washington has made clear that it expects transfers to The Hague to begin before it releases any American aid.

General Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander, and Radovan Karadzic, the former president of the Serb Democratic Party, who are charged with the genocide of up to 6,000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995, are believed to be in hiding in Bosnia, which remains under the control of the SFOR international peacekeeping troops.

The whereabouts of Nikola Sainovic, the federal deputy prime minister accused of the worst crimes in Kosovo, and of Milan Milutinovic, the Serb president, are also unknown.

The extradition of Milosevic would carry little political risk in Yugoslavia. Public opinion has been shocked in recent weeks by the discovery of a number of mass graves across Serbia, providing direct evidence that the Milosevic regime systematically killed Albanians during the war. It is believed that, to cover their tracks, they transported more than 1,000 of the corpses, including women and children, to Serbia for burial.

The official said: "It's tempting to transfer Milosevic right away because so few people care about him. I think there would be far more sympathy for someone like Milutinovic, who was simply an errand boy for the regime but wasn't involved in organising security forces."

At the same time, the democratic reformers do not want to repeat their mistake of March, when they ordered authorities to arrest Milosevic on the same day as an American deadline for his capture. Reformers were widely criticised, not for arresting Milosevic, but for what was taken as an obvious demonstration of servitude towards America.

Milosevic has still not examined The Hague indictment against him, which was placed on his cell door in Belgrade's central prison several weeks ago. He receives regular visits from Mira, his wife, Mirjana, his daughter, and Marko, his grandson. Marko, his son, is hiding in the former Soviet Union.